Tag: writing

I had one of the best times at the Baltimore Book Festival on Sunday. I met a lot of talented authors and a bunch of excited readers, who were looking for the next book that will keep them reading through the night.

The new cover for In The Mirror was a big hit. Readers could not resist picking the book up and once they read the synopsis, they couldn’t leave without buying it. So, once again I want to thank Tyrone Wilkens, Toni Belafonte, Lauren Smith, and Malcolm Blackman for helping me reshoot the cover. It is a beautiful thing.

So below are so highlights from the festival. On my Facebook page, are interviews of several authors, who were gracious enough to allow me to Go Live so I could share their work with my friends and family, who, by the way, were super, super supportive and came out to get their copy of In The Mirror. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. Happy Reading 🙂

Look what arrived just in time for my appearance at The Baltimore Book Festival. The official rerelease of In the Mirror is Friday, September 29, 2017, but if you come to the Book Festival, you will be able to get a copy and start reading about Jasmine Falls and what she does to get proof that her boyfriend is not in love with his wife.

I will be at the book festival on Sunday, September 24th with the Black Writers’ Guild of Maryland from 3 pm to 7 pm. I hope to see you there.

For the last few months, I’ve been working feverishly to re-release my novel, In The Mirror. It’s been a challenge because I am determined to produce a great story, inside and out. Meaning, I want the cover and interior to be awesome. I’ve been working with some wonderful people. Natalie Stokes-Peters has been formatting the interior. I wrote In the Mirror using Word. Natalie uses InDesign. The two programs did not mesh well at all. In reading the book, I found over 700 edits that Natalie had to address. That took a lot of time.

The cover is another thing that has taken a lot of time. More time than I expected. We shot the cover in April. Here is the link to the behind the scenes of the cover shoot. https://youtu.be/XN0QZ2Jt3nU

Well, we have a beautiful cover. The only problem is the digital version looks great, but the physical copy prints too dark. The main character, Jasmine, can be seen, although not at vibrant as the digital version, and the two other characters, Daniel and Regina, are hardly visible at all. So I am working hard to get it right.

My hope is that I’ll have it correct before the Baltimore Book Festival.

I was fortunate enough to be featured in an article written by reporter and playwright, Ursula Battle in The Baltimore Times newspaper. Click on the link and read all about Water the film, which is based on my novel, Water in a Broken Glass. Thank you all for the support and love you are showing Water. I truly appreciate it. None of this would be happening without you.

I had the most marvelous time at the Hampden Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Devon, the branch manager, set up a theme in the library based on black art and water, including bottles of water from all over the world. It was one of the coolest things anyone has ever done for a discussion about Water in a Broken Glass. Speaking of discussion, it was so awesome. Everyone really enjoyed the characters, the art in the book, and the way Baltimore is represented. Devon appreciated the mention of the Pratt Library in the book. If you have a chance, please visit the library. It’s small but so adorable. You will love it.

I thank the Hampden Branch for having me and all the people who came out to support me, which includes my mama and my husband, Michael.

Recently, I reshot the cover to my novel In the Mirror. I’d been wanting and needing to reshoot the cover for a long time. The first time the cover was shot was when In the Mirror was published by Dewdrop Publishing. The cover featured my beautiful cousin, Dana Pryor, who plays the main character, Jasmine Falls.

It is a wonderful cover. I love it, but it didn’t attract many readers. There was something missing from the cover. Not long after its release, I was able to acquire the rights to In the Mirror and I decided to reshoot the cover. Now, I’ve never bought a book based on the cover. I’m title’s person, meaning, if the title grabs my attention, I’m picking up the book to see what it’s about. I now understand that covers do the same for most readers. Their first introduction to you as a writer is the cover, and if it doesn’t grab them, they won’t grab the book.

So I had this wonderful idea for a cover and had a friend, Steven Houk, who dabbles in photograph to shoot it for me. For the talent, I again used my cousin Dana, who is Jasmine. I asked my co-worker, Lauren Smith, to play the role of Regina Roberts, and I asked my former publisher, Devlon Waddell, to play the role of Daniel Roberts. This is what we came up with.

This cover attracted a whole lot of attention. Every book fair I attended, I sold several copies because it drew people over to my table. And once they read the synopsis, they couldn’t wait to read it. The only problem is this cover didn’t exactly do what I wanted. I wanted it to be a night time scene, but we weren’t able to achieve that. So it looks like Jasmine is standing in Daniel and Regina’s room in the middle of the afternoon as they are napping. Also, we had elongate the image because we couldn’t originally shoot it vertically. So everyone is distorted, which I could say plays a part in how Jasmine views the relationship. Yeah, I could say that. It sounds really good….Naw…

Soooo, that brings me to April 23, 2017. I’ll tell you all about that day in my next post.

I had the most marvelous time at my book signing for the Page Turners Book Club. It was held at the Woodlawn Library and boy when I say they pulled out all the stops, I mean they pulled out all the stops for me as an author. Delicious food, great crowd, insightful conversation about the book, and even a replica of the broken glass on the cover of Water In A Broken Glass, created by Rosa Stone. That was simply amazing that she did that. Also, I want to give a shout out to some of my fellow authors who came out to support me and the Page Turners: Rosa Griffin, Wilma Brockington-Parker, and Leroy McKenzie. Every author should be spoiled in the way the Page Turners spoiled me. They are truly an awesome book club. Thank you so much.

Me and the artistic Rosa Stone, who made the replica of the broken glass.

The coolest thing in an author’s life happened to me. Page Turners Bookclub selected Water in a Broken Glass for their book of the month. The discussion was originally supposed to take place in a restaurant, but I received a phone call from Page Turners this morning. People have been calling the library wanting to attend, so the library asked them to have the discussion at the branch instead. Crazy, right? I want to thank Page Turners Bookclub, Mr. Farmer of the Woodlawn Library, and the people who love Water in a Broken Glass for making my day.

I had an absolute ball at the Lite Readers Book Club Extravaganza! The members of Lite know how to treat authors. We all felt like royalty when we walked into the Senior Center and found our tables decorated with beautiful table clothes, flowers, and candy. Not only did they feed us breakfast, but they provided lunch for us. The event was well attended and well publicized. I got to hang out with some authors I’ve been friend with for years and some I just met. It was great being in the room with so many talented people.

Thank you Liberty Lite Readers for showing us love with this wonderful event. Check out some of the pictures.

Jamelle and I had a wonderful time with host Nate Couser and Big Mama Ama on the Artist Exchange Radio Show. We talked about everything having to do with my novel, Water in a Broken Glass and the film Water, based on book. Nate and Ama asked some very intriguing questions. They did their homework and had a genuine interest in the novel and the film. I’m usually very nervous during an interview, but they had me completely at ease. Please take some time to watch us and continue to support The Artist Exchange Radio Show.

Nate, the host of The Artist Exchange Radio Show, will be interviewing me and Jamelle on Friday, February 17, 2017. We will discuss everything from writing, acting, movie-making, and of course how Water in a Broken Glass made its way to the big screen. Tune-in and call in. Thanks in advance. I be listening for your call on tomorrow night.

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Topic: -Facing Fears Pt.2-
Guests:”Odessa Rose”
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I had an absolute ball with the Liberty Lite Bookclub. Everyone was so welcoming and we had a great discussion. I love it when readers can tell me things about my work that I didn’t even see. I want to thank Liberty Lite Bookclub for featuring Water in a Broken Glass and for loving it as much as I do.